Big indecision

I start graduate school on Monday. \nBefore I say anything else, let me articulate my new-school-year feelings as accurately as possible: “AHHHHH!!!! I’m SCARED!!!”\nDuring my four years as an undergrad, I, like other students, changed my major a lot. I was a voice major, a linguistics major and an English major. I finally settled on studying comparative literature. But many undergraduates are unable to decide on the right major. Why is it that so few of us are certain about our life’s path? \nFirst, I blame our non-committal habits on modern times. Today, most of us can afford to be introspective. But in 1832, for example, most of humanity had to toil for money and food, wash clothes and cook without electricity. Most people didn’t have any education beyond grammar school. Therefore, the most important interests to the folks of yesteryear were grounded in concrete, everyday objectives, and less focused on the hazy future. \nThere are obvious exceptions to this limited idea of history; rich people had plenty of time to reflect about their future plans. And many a great genius sprang from the loins of hard-working agricultural or industrial families. The life of the mind was not a totally neglected aspect of pre-technological society, but it was certainly less important when people had survival to consider. \nSecond, we young Americans are living an extended adolescence. Many of our parents left high school and started working immediately. Most were financially independent of their parents at the age of 18. Today, college serves those privileged enough to attend as high school once did: a four-year period to socialize and devote more time to finding mates than reflecting seriously on the future. \nFinally, we delay making monumental decisions about our future because we think quite highly of our potential, and fear ending up a failure to our inner greatness. One of the dominating advertising slogans of our time turned philosophical mantra is, “It’s all about you.” Even if I pretend not to believe it’s all about me, I still act like it is. \nWe young lot feel pretty darn entitled. We do not aim for the middle of the road. I have never heard someone say, “I just want to make enough money to get by, and hopefully my job won’t be too boring.” Most of us at some time or another hope to invent something, make the big bucks, get famous, or otherwise change the world. Our potential, we think, is limitless. \nBut maybe I’m pessimistic about the pain of indecision. Maybe college undergrads cannot decide on a major because we have so many choices. IU offers 130 majors and endless possibilities.\nAll I know is, I start grad school Monday. When people ask me what I’ll do with a master’s degree in comparative literature, I say, “Uh…” \nThe indecision continues.